On our recent visit to Phuket, we had a chance to dine at a place that had a salt sommelier. I am very familiar with a wine sommelier but not a salt sommelier. It was my first time which was very interesting. A salt sommelier is similar to a wine sommelier but what they do is recommend different varieties of salt to go along with the food served. There was a lot to learn about the different salts with different origins, taste, and aroma. It was a very interesting experience.

Sea Fire Salt would probably be the only restaurant in Thailand to has a salt sommelier. Located on the seaside of Maikhao beach at the Anantara Resort and Spa. An elevated rustic wood structure encloses air-conditioned seating and open air seating that looks out to the beach and pool near by. The charming wood structure is treated with a light beige color lit with some blue and purple lighting providing a nice ambiance for diners. Our out door seats provide us to hear the wonderful old pop classics from the Filipino band and the slight background sound of the ocean waves.

Khun Songwut Sumala the sou chef came to greeted us at the table. He made some recommendations of what was special for that night. From the menu we ordered a mix seafood salad that has raw oysters, sushi, sashimi, lobster. A nice starter with many varieties of seafood.

There was a large section of seafood cooked on Himalayan salt bricks. As recommended we went for the salmon garnished with dill and season with dashi salt. The large piece of salmon arrived to our table on a large pinkish salt brick. The salmon was cooked completely on the salt brick adding little by little flavor to the salmon. The salmon was cooked perfectly with a lot of moisture in the meat but not seasoned enough. That is where the salt from the sommelier is used. It was an impressive presentation. The himalayan salt brick it self cost about 5,000 baht, if spilt cold water on it, it will break and crack. Just out of curiosity, I was about to pour some water on it, but luckily I didn’t.

Our next main was grilled lamb. It was a charcoal grill done at our table. It had very nice aroma and some smoke from the grill. When the fire was getting a little wild, the service staff help us control it and cooked the lamb. It was cooked just the way I liked it a little pink inside. We tried it with the many varieties of salt. Each salt added a new experience.

For the dessert chef Songwut created an off menu sherbet. It was a mixed sherbet of lime, passion fruit and green tea ice cream at the bottom and a colorful raspberry sauce. A perfect way to finish off an interesting meal.